Matti Friedman profiled six of the more compelling Knesset candidates over recent weeks, for a series of articles we called “In the running.”
Renegade rabbi and politician Haim Amsalem, expelled from Shas for taking on the sacred cows of ultra-Orthodox politics, thinks Israel could learn a thing or two from his father’s Judaism
Haim Amsalem in Jerusalem, October 23, 2012 (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
2. Uniform off, an outspoken general takes on the political system
Elazar Stern brings his unique brand of blunt, Orthodox, centrist Zionism from the military to the 2013 election
Elazar Stern (photo credit: Kobi Gideon/Flash90)
3. The new (secular) face of religious Zionism
Ayelet Shaked wants to bring the ideology of the settlements from the West Bank into the Israeli mainstream. With her Jewish Home party surging in the polls, she might do just that
Ayelet Shaked, center, with Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, right. Shaked, who is not Orthodox, says her views are “identical to those of religious Zionism” (photo credit: Courtesy of Jewish Home/Ayelet Shaked)
4. Israel can’t afford to sit and do nothing, says Labor’s new defense man
Omer Barlev — son of a former chief of staff, the ex-commander of one of the army’s most elite units and a hi-tech entrepreneur — knew Benjamin Netanyahu as a soldier. He has few kind words for him today
Omer Barlev (photo credit: Flash90)
Until now, Danny Danon was a marginal character from the extremist back benches. In the next Knesset, he will be at the heart of Israel’s ruling party
Danny Danon speaks at a rally in 2010. Once a back-bencher, Danon is now ninth on the Likud list, putting him within reach of a Cabinet post (Photo by Gili Yaari/Flash90)
6. Coexistence, despite everything
In the jungle of the Knesset, Hanna Swaid is an endangered species. The final installment in a six-part series of profiles ahead of the elections
Hanna Swaid, foreground, of the Jewish-Arab socialist party Hadash (Courtesy of Hanna Swaid)
